Wrapped Up
by unknownbyhim22
Summary: Gabriella Montez is used to the Barbie shoes lost in her hair, toothpaste freshening her hands, and sticky popsicle juice on the bottom of her feet. And she’s used to being tired at the end of the day, wrapped up in the arms of the father of her children.


**Hey everyone! I wanted to wait until Christmas break to update next so that people would have the time to sit back and read! This is definitly by far one of my favorite oneshots! I hope everyone is doing wonderful! Happy Holidays! Enjoy!**

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Gabriella Montez is used to the Barbie shoes lost in her hair, tooth paste freshening her hands, and sticky popsicle juice on the bottom of her feet. And she's used to being tired at the end of the day, wrapped up in the arms of the father of her children.

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Wrapped Up

I bet right now if you ran your hand through my hair, you'd find my six year olds' Barbie shoe that she lost this morning and you'd noticed that I didn't have time to search underneath the couch for my hairbrush that my three year old ran away with. And you'd also notice the baby crying in the bouncy seat by the kitchen table, and that my husband was no where in sight.

But, I barely get to notice these things, instead I've felt as if I'm on some kind of fast forward, doing the same things everyday; telling my neighbors I was sorry for the noise, soothing a boo-boo, talking in toddler-talk. It was all a part of my crazy life, sending me into my pantry closet occasionally crying as I made three different lunches because none of my kids liked the same things.

When I first decided to start this crazy new chapter in my life, I was ready and excited, but lately I've wished it was more like babysitting. You'd be overwhelmed for a while, but at the end of the day you'd hand them back over to their parents and get paid twenty bucks. The only thing I get paid with now is an increase in my pants' size and an extra headache here and there.

I love my kids, don't get me wrong. I know that I'll miss this one day, that I'll look back and realize that going on at times when I had the stomach flu was worth it, that I would feel worse when I watched my kids graduate, but right now, I've registered only one child for kindergarten. I still have tons of years to go and I'm still a work in progress.

"Moooommmmyyyy!" My six year old came into the kitchen with one of her Barbies, sniffling as she held a sequency pair of pants in the other hand. "They won't go on!" She exclaimed as she held both the items out to me as I tried to get my youngest, Ben, to stop crying, bending down closer to him as he gargled and spat.

"Samantha… I don't have time…" I shook my head, forgetting about telling her that changing her dolls clothing wasn't my first priority because she'd only start crying and stop only when I put the pants on.

When the pants were on, she went back to the family room and the baby stopped crying, leaving me to wrangle my three year old, Max, as he ran down the hallway with my hairbrush while laughing loudly.

"Max, give that back to mom." I said as I walked towards the front door where he was standing, examining the strands of hair twisted around the brush. I smiled softly at him, knowing that he had a weird liking of my hair. Once I picked him up, he handed me the brush, laying his head against my shoulder, burying his face against my hair.

He was the most like my husband, Troy Bolton. He got himself into trouble, but he easily got out of it, giving off the impression that he meant to do everything he did. He also likes my hair, just like his dad, and God only knows why because I don't think I've had time to do anything to it in the past week.

The phone rang, Ben started to cry, and Samantha walked sadly back into the kitchen with another doll as I did to find the phone.

"Everyone be quiet for a minute, please." I said in a sing-song tone, laughing at myself as everything around me just got louder. "Hello?"

"Gabs!" I heard on the other line, my best friend's voice bringing about a small amount of comfort. "I need you to do the biggest favor for me."

"Tay…" I started slowly, hearing the soft snoring already of Max and I glanced at the clock, inwardly cursing as I realized it was past nap time and he was the only one ready to sleep. "I'm kind of wrapped up at the moment."

"I know, but Chad fell off of his Goddamn motorcycle again and I have to go to the hospital. I don't want to take the kids and stress them out."

I sighed, pinching the top of my nose between my index finger and thumb.

"I'll watch them for you." I told her, hearing a long line of thank yous follow, and then the click of her phone after she told me she'd be there in a few minutes and I knew she would be and that nap time would be ruined as the kid's best friends Gayle and Tyler came over.

***

My breaking point had been long past and I'd already made two trips to the kitchen pantry. The baby was fussing and would cry every time I went to put him down and Tyler and Max were occupied only temporarily by the Lion King as Gayle and Samantha made multiple trips into the kitchen with Barbies that needed to be clothed. It was already seven at night and the lamps that I was able to turn on cast a tiring glow around the house, but I was the only one they were making tired.

Troy was supposed to be home an hour ago and so help me if he wasn't walking through the door in the next five minutes; I'd make him have a camp out with our kids and Taylor and Chad's tonight in the backyard.

"I'm home!" His voice caused tears to appear in my eyes as his dinner stayed warm on the stove and as the kids all left the kitchen to greet Mr. Cool. I was still holding Ben as I put my palm against my forehead, feeling the headache that I had gotten this morning continue to torment me.

"Sorry I'm late, babe." Troy started as he came into the kitchen. "I visited Chad at the hospital."

"Yeah." I said tiredly. "Gayle and Tyler are sleeping on the couch."

Troy looked into the family room before coming further into the kitchen and he chuckled as he saw our best friend's kids fast asleep, worn out by their day with the Bolton's. He came over to me, smiling as he pulled something from the end of my hair and I sighed, seeing the bathing suit top that belonged to one of the Malabo Barbie's in his hands.

"Nice." He smiled.

"Your dinner is on the stove." I said as I started to hand over Ben. Troy bounced him happily and he seemed to smile back at him as he stopped squirming. "I need a shower." I said in exhaustion, walking away from him without hearing his answer and I heard him following me as I walked towards the stairs and I knew he was most likely watching me as Samantha clung to his leg and as I shut our bedroom door.

It was eight thirty when I finally opened my bathroom door but it felt like it was midnight and I was trying to stay up to watch the ball drop on New Years Eve. The house was silent, just how it usually became when Troy got home and put the kids to sleep with a simple back rub and lullaby hummed close to their ear. I was drying my hair with my towel when Troy appeared in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with the same smile that had been on his face since he got home.

"Taylor picked up Gayle and Tyler. She told me to tell you she owes you." He said to me, causing me only to nod, not wanting to come off irritated by the fact that I had to watch their kids because of Chad's stupid habits. "Long day?" He asked after I continued on with my hair, brushing it and staring at my tired self in the mirror.

"Just like everyday." I replied. "Ben's teething, Samantha isn't old enough to be able to cloth her own Barbie's, and Max always finds something of mine to run away with."

"Sounds like our kids." He nodded, smiling at me as I walked past him into our dark bedroom.

"Yeah." I said exasperated.

"What's wrong?" He asked me as he stayed in his spot, but turning to face our room as I pulled the blankets on our bed back so I could snuggle underneath them.

"I'm tired." I replied as I set my head on my pillow. "Last night I stayed up all night with Max, trying to convince him that there was no such thing as monsters under the bed—thanks for renting Monsters Inc. by the way, hun—and by the time I laid back down, Ben was up crying and you slept on peacefully, somehow not hearing any of it."

"If I heard it I promise I would have helped you out."

"Oh yeah. It's the thought that counts, right?" I said sarcastically, closing my eyes, already feeling sleep pulling me with it.

"You could have woken me up." I felt Troy on his side of the bed, close to me as my breathing became heavy with exhaustion.

"It doesn't matter anymore. It's over now." I told him and I heard everything now go silent in our room; no sigh from Troy, no rebuttal, no movement. Of course he'd be the one to fall asleep during our conversation, leaving me to take care of everything that would go on as he slept, but then I felt him wrap his arms around me, pulling me against his muscular chest as he kissed me on the back of the head, leaving his face against my wet flower-scented hair as he mumbled that he loved me, falling asleep as I did.

***

I had only drifted into a three hour nap and as I did I could still sense everything going on in the house. Troy was breathing softly behind me, his arms now loose around me as I opened my eyes to look at the clock on my nightstand. It was only eleven thirty and I knew that at any moment one of my kids would call my name or start crying and just like clock work, Ben started to cry, causing me to move Troy's arms away from me and sit up.

As I was standing up though, Troy grabbed my hand pulling me down back where I had been as he sat up slowly. I watched in confusion as he stood up, putting on his 'Man Slippers' as he called them, going towards our bedroom door.

"I'll get him." He said to me, disappearing into the dark hallway and as I stared out our bedroom door, I saw the glow from Ben's room as he must have opened the door, the crying getting louder and then quieter.

Even though I was glad to just lay there and hear the crying stop, I still had to get up to investigate, to see if the baby was sick, or if it was just another fussing fit. I tiptoed past Max's room, checking on him, and doing the same to Samantha before I stopped in the doorway of Ben's room, seeing Troy patting him on the back as he fell asleep against his cotton grey shirt. Troy was moving back and forth as if he was dancing to a slow song and Ben's tiny fist was clenched around a piece of Troy's shaggy hair.

I stayed in my spot by the door as Troy slowly set him back into his crib, cranking the dial on the twirling basketball mobile that turned slowly above Ben and it played a slow song to keep him sleeping. I walked over to the crib and peered in to see him fast asleep and Troy smiled at me, pulling me close to him.

"I thought I said I'd get him." He whispered in my ear.

"I couldn't help but check on you two." I replied in a softer whisper, leaning my forehead against his neck as we both looked into the crib.

We stayed like that for a few seconds before Troy asked the most random question, one that had me looking at him in confusion, and then to the clock ticking softly by the lap on the nightstand by the window.

"What?" I whispered softly.

"Do you want to dance with me?" He asked this seriously, smiling still.

"It's midnight." I replied.

"I know, but this song is ours." He said in response, pulling me by my hand away from the crib so that we were in the middle of the room, still hearing the ballad playing from the baby device.

"You are crazy." I whispered as we started to move slowly with each other, me leaning my head against his shoulder as our feet moved close together among the glow of the lamp by the window.

I could have fallen asleep just like that, wrapped up in his arms as the baby slept and as the instrumental song floated around the room. Troy played with the ends of my hair that lay against my back, making me smile as he hummed the words to the song close to my ear.

"Won't you promise me, we'll keep dancing wherever we go next…?"

I closed my eyes, feeling the hair on my arms raise as I felt a warmth come over me with each word he sang to me and I opened them slowly when he stopped suddenly, laughing almost inaudibly. I could see Samantha peeking through the crack of the door, her blue eyes bright against the white of the door and I smiled as she came in, now caught spying.

"Do you do this every night?" She asked quietly, knowing to whisper when she was around the baby. "It's pretty."

"No, Sammy, just tonight." Troy smiled as he scooped her up, kissing her as she giggled, walking with her towards the hallway. "_You're_ pretty." He laughed to her as she rubbed her nose against his.

"Mommy's the prettiest." I heard her say as they got closer to her room, leaving me in the middle of Ben's baby blue room, listening to the song come to a soft end and silence come after.

"The prettiest." Troy said to her quietly, but loud enough for me to hear him and so sincerely that it had me walking over to start our song over again.

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**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22 **


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